dungeons_draugrfandomcom-20200213-history
Character Design
Defining a Character In Elder Scrolls, a character is a representation of the player. Composed of an onscreen image and statistics and other information that help define and accurately represent a being in the Elder Scrolls setting. This same system is also used to define the various NPCs, monsters, and other beings that populate the the universe. From this point forward, the player characters will be referred to as PCs, while non-player characters will be referred to as NPCs. Even monsters and other creatures are classified as characters! Characters, particularly PCs, can be divided into two main parts: the character concept, and the character profile. = Character Concept A character concept simply defines who the character is within the context of the Elder Scrolls. This can range from a simple idea in the player’s head (a dashing wood elf rogue who fights with twisted daggers!) to an in depth background document written before the game begins. However extensive it may be, all characters should have a basic concept associated with them, even the NPCs the party can interact with. Character Profile A character profile defines who the character is within the context of the game rules, providing a suite of stats which can be used to resolve a variety of dramatic scenarios in which the character may find themselves. These values are the focus of the majority of the rules in this book, and will be the focus of the rest of this section as well. Each character profile is made up of the following elements: • Characteristics: values that represent the broad physical and mental capabilities of the character. • Skills: A set of categories and associated ranks that reflect a character’s ability to perform certain actions. • Talents: A set of unique abilities the character has come to possess through training or experience. • Traits: Rules that reflect inherent physical facts about the character, certain abilities they naturally possess, or particular features of their personality. • Magic: The set of all magical abilities the character posesses. • State: The current state of the character, including everything from their equipment to their physical health. Skills A character’s Skills are a set of categories and associated ranks that reflect a character’s ability to perform certain actions. The ranks reflect the character’s experience, training, and overall ability to perform these various actions. Skills are either trained, or untrained. Each trained skill has a corresponding Skill Rank, which has an associated value from 0 to 5, which reflects how capable the character is at utilizing that skill. Each skill has one or more Governing Characteristics: a set of characteristics that reflect the many ways that a character can utilize a single skill. Skills & Governing Attributes Specializations Skills can also have accompanying Specializations, which represent areas of concentration and focus in a character’s training and experience with that skill. Talents A character’s Talents are the various unique abilities the character has come to possess through training or experience. They include everything from passive bonuses to activated abilities, and can even modify how the character uses certain skills. Traits A character’s Traits are rules that reflect various natural facts about the character or certain abilities they possess. They include things such as inherent physical weaknesses, personality traits, and so forth. Magic The set of all the various spells, rituals, powers, congruence powers, techniques, shouts, and other magical abilities the character possesses. State A character’s State is a collection of values that, together, reflect the current state of the character. This includes everything from their equipment to their physical health. This is, therefore, the part of a character’s profile that is expected to change the most during an average play through. * Fatigue The character’s total levels of fatigue, which reflects how physically exhausted they are. If this value ever exceeds the character’s Stamina, the character is reduced to 50% movement speed. * Magicka The character’s current magicka, which is spent in order to cast spells. Once reduced by any amount, a character’s current magicka recovers naturally at a rate of Wisdom bonus magicka. Can never exceed the character’s Magicka Pool, or be reduced below zero. * Equipment A character’s equipment includes all the items they carry and use, everything from their weapons to the clothes they wear. * Encumbrance Level Represents how much the bulk and weight of the character’s gear hinders their ability to function. * Conditions The combined list of conditions currently affecting the character. Conditions are things that affect the character and their capabilities instead of features of the character’s nature. By default, a character begins with no conditions unless otherwise specified. * Experience Points The character’s current amount of XP, which can be spent on advancements.